My new collection BOOK HAVEN AND OTHER CURIOSITIES contains the title novella as well as 20 other short stories. I think the reader will get a solid view of the different types of stories of which I’m capable. Different subjects, different tones, different themes, different genres. What I want to talk about here, however, is the title tale, “Book Haven.”
This is a story that bounced around in my imagination for many years before finally becoming a finished piece. In fact, I even had a few false starts.
The story started out as a short story. I had an idea about a future where the world’s literature was lost and we were trying to recreate it from memory. I penned this tale probably a decade ago, and it wasn’t very good at all. Still, the idea nagged at me and began to grow. What if this group, perhaps a governmental agency, also was charged with finding antique print books and got wind of a secret library of hundreds of such relics? A book haven. A plot began to form, a murder mystery type tale.
I gave it a start, but got only a short way into it before I found that it wasn’t working for me. I couldn’t put my finger on the exact problem, therefore wasn’t sure how to fix it, and therefore I merely abandoned the piece.
A couple of years later, I began collaborating on fan fiction with a friend of mine. We were having so much fun, we decided to try something original together. She liked the “Book Haven” idea so suggested we give that a try. And thus, attempt number two. We got further into it than my first solo attempt, but again it started to die on the vine. Thus, abandonment number two.
I put those incomplete manuscripts aside and the idea got pushed to the distant corners of my mind. However, it still did not completely go away. Once in a while, it would stick its head up over some crates and boxes and remind me of its existence.
And then it all clicked…I realized what the problem was that kept me from getting too far into it before. It was too dark. This story wasn’t meant to be dark, therefore the murder that I was starting the story off with was the problem. The story was a mystery, but not a murder mystery. It became a bit of a scavenger hunt story instead.
I dove back in, discarding everything I’d tried before and starting completely from scratch, and this time the story caught fire. I kept up the momentum, and tore through the thing in a few months’ time.
When I finally got to that point where I got to write those two magic words – THE END – I felt a sense of total exhilaration. A story I had carried around inside me for so long was finally out of my head. A longer gestation period than a lot of ideas I have had, but one that I considered worth the wait. I am very proud of the tale I told, and hope that readers will enjoy it just as much.
Book Haven And Other Curiosities
Come peruse the dusty shelves of BOOK HAVEN. Scan the titles, study the strange trinkets that are lined up on display. Maybe pull aside the cobwebs and run your fingers alone the spines of the books, caress the artifacts. You will find many forgotten treasures and un-mined gems among the debris.
From the author of Flowers in a Dumpster comes a new collection of stories to terrify you, to move you, to make you think. In the title novella, readers are introduced to a future where all literature has been lost, but a group of government agents are on the hunt for the mythological Book Haven, a vast secret library. Along the way, they encounter mysteries and betrayals and are not sure who they can trust.
With Book Haven and Other Curiosities, Gunnells provides an eclectic mix of tales to entertain and engage the imagination.
Some of what you find will be horrifying, some of it beautiful, but all of it is yours for the taking. We’re so glad you found your way here and welcome you in side BOOK HAVEN.
“Mark Allan Gunnells is one of our best short story writers, and this book continues that tradition. I loved reading this collection!”—John R. Little, author of Miranda, The Memory Tree, and The Murder of Jesus Christ
RELEASE DATE: APRIL 26, 2019
About Mark Allan Gunnells
Mark Allan Gunnells loves to tell stories. He has since he was a kid, penning one-page tales that were Twilight Zone knockoffs. He likes to think he has gotten a little better since then. He loves reader feedback, and above all he loves telling stories. He lives in Greer, SC, with his husband Craig A. Metcalf.
